Piller arrived in Boise at No. 52 in earnings; he had played well in spurts but struggled to find consistency, missing seven of his first 14 cuts this season. His driver has been “right on point” for most of 2015, but he has struggled on the greens at times, including at the prior week’s Nova Scotia Open where he shot 70-72 and missed the cut by a shot.
Piller flew home to Fort Worth last Saturday and spent the weekend with his wife, who was preparing for last week’s U.S. Women’s Open. He arrived in Boise on Monday, needing to acclimate to just a one-hour time difference rather than a three-hour difference from Halifax, and immediately got to work on rectifying his putting.
“At the start of the week, I really made sure I was doing what I need to do to putt well,” said Piller. “I was going back to my checklist, like, ‘OK, am I doing this, am I doing that, am I making sure I’m doing everything right with the putting?’
“My putting was the difference from Nova Scotia to here (Boise).”
Throughout his Web.com Tour career, Piller has displayed a knack for closing the deal when he gets into contention, and last week was no different. The Texas A&M graduate held the 54-hole lead at last year’s News Sentinel Open before going on to victory, and in both his victories in 2010, he entered the final round just one stroke off the lead.